By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
The Asian Games-bound Philippine boxing team may be without Eumir Marcial — its lone medalist from the previous edition — but it is bringing a formidable castto this year’s Games in Japan next month.
Olympic medalists Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam and Aira Villegas headline the lean six-fighter PH team, which aims to end the country’s 16-year drought for an Asian Games boxing gold medal.
Rey Saludar was the last Filipino boxer to win an Asian Games gold, claiming the title at the 2010 edition in Guangzhou, China.
Joining them are Junmilardo Ogayre (men’s 60kg), Petecio’s brother, Norlan (men’s 70kg) and Riza Pasuit (women’s 54kg).
Marcial, who won a silver in the 2022 edition in Hangzhou, China, is skipping this year’s Games due to conflict of schedule with his pro fight.
Nesthy, 34, is expected to go all-out in the women’s 60 kg — a slightly heavier weight class from the 57kg division where she won a silver in the 2020 Tokyo and a bronze in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
An Asian Games medal is the only major title missing from Nesthy’s massive trophy collection, having won a silver in the 2020 Tokyo and bronze in the 2024 Paris Olympics, one gold and one silver medal in the world championships, one silver and two bronze medals in the Asian Championships, and two gold, three silver and two bronze medals in the Southeast Asian Games.
She competed in the 2022 Asian Games edition in Hangzhou, China in the 57kg division, but lost in the Round of 16 to Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-ting, who eventually won the gold medal.
Paalam, a 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver winner, meanwhile, eyes to eclipse his previous Asian Games feat of a bronze medal in the 2018 edition in Jakarta, Indonesia when he competed in the men’s 55kg.
He competed in the 57kg in Hangzhou, but lost to eventual champion Abdumalik Khalokov of Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals.
Villegas, a 2024 Paris Olympics bronze winner, for her part, is seeing action in the women’s 51kg with hopes of redeeming herself from her last Asian Games appearance in Hangzhou where she lost in the opening round.
